Feb. 15, 2012 - Issue #852: The Coffee Issue
Tuff House Records
Sun, Feb 19 | Royce Da 5'9'', Wayz, Peter Jackson, Tox & Cash Game | Starlite Room
When Tuff House Records began back in 1998 as a joint idea of Orville Green (who raps as Wayz) and longtime friend/label-DJ Reno, it was in an attempt to fill in that void, particularly for the urban scene, which then lacked much in the way of organization.
"We were young teenagers, [and] there was nothing to help establish the music Alberta was putting out on the urban side," Green says. "On a scheme, on my mother's couch, I decided I'd start it."
His mother's couch was the first Tuff House office, he notes (they now operate in Strathcona). And in the 13 years since its inception Tuff House has been trying to keep an urban scene alive and growing in Alberta.
Standing in the Strathcona Chapters, flanked by Reno, his label's videographer, Bradlee Clouston, and his own son (happily playing with a couple of loose books), Green points out some of the trickier aspects of keeping a scene together.
"We have the talent, and it's been cultivating for so long," he notes. "But in order for a network to properly work, it needs DJs, promoters."
Part of it also seems to be splitting the difference between bringing in some outside artists—Tuff House's upcoming show is being headlined by Royce da 5'9'', an early Eminem collaborator—and ensuring local content's included on the bill. And keeping that local content rotating, too.
"Especially when it's performers, and you see these same guys opening up [for shows], and it's the same guys, over and over," Reno says. "That's why you gotta start bringing the upcomers in, and see the new talent."
To both of them, a focus seems to be keeping the shows varied, letting the lineup shift instead of stagnate.
"The label doesn't just represent the urban elite," Green says. "We have to represent the scene as a whole, and we also have to represent Edmonton, and, at the end of the day, we have to represent Alberta. I love Alberta; Alberta's home."
Sun, Feb 19 (8 pm)
Royce Da 5'9''
With Wayz, Peter Jackson, Tox & Cash Game
Starlite Room, $40 – $50 vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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